[Gllug] Memory cards for Cameras

[Mike Brodbelt]

On Sun, 2003-10-05 at 10:29, Jon Dye wrote:
> I am thinking about buying myself a digital camera. I have looked which 
> cameras can be connected to using linux and gphoto2 or USB Mass Storage 
> so I think I know what I'm doing there.  What I'm not sure about is 
> linux support for reading the various memory cards.  If I want to get a 
> card reader to read the memory cards when they are not in the camera are 
> there any types that I should avoid?

Some of them work, some don't. Some of the card readers are just bog
standard USB mass storage devices, but some are vendor specific, and
require a custom driver. The first category will work fine in Linux, the
latter varies.

> I remember something about one type (Sony) that had some sort of 
> proprietory technology that was unreadable, is this still true? Can I 
> just but one of those 7 in one card readers and read anything?

Sony has Memory Stick, which is readable, and Magic Gate, which is the
same thing, but supports DRM. As long as the device you use it in isn't
using the DRM features, I think you'll be OK. Same goes for MMC/SD -
they're both the same physical size, but SD supports DRM, and isn't as
Linux friendly, but I suspect if you just used it in non DRM'd devices,
you'd be OK.

Personally, I'd choose a camera that uses CF out of preference. CF
provides the best cost/size ratio, and just looks like an IDE device in
many places. You can get up to 4Gb CF cards, with 8 around the corner.
None of the other formats can equal this yet. Even Sony has grudgingly
accepted CF - their latest digicam, the DSC-F828 takes both Memory stick
and CF.

HTH,

Mike.


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